United Nations Rio Conventions 2010 Calendar - Photographer Credits & Biographies

A M I  V I T A L E

Best known for her cultural documentation, Ami has received recognition from World Press Photos, has been named Magazine Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association, and Photo District News named her one of the top ‘30 Under 30.’ The South Asian Journalists Association presented her with the Daniel Pearl Award for outstanding print reporting on South Asia.

Her stories have been awarded grants including the first-ever Inge Morath grant by the prestigious Magnum Photos, The Canon female photojournalist award for her work in Kashmir, and the Alexia Foundation for World Peace. Vitale’s photographs have been published in major international magazines and presented in international exhibition around the world.

Now based in Miami, Florida, Vitale is a contract photographer with National Geographic Adventure and is the current Knight Center Professional in Residence at the University of Miami.

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Nature Photographer with more than 2000 days in field in the Arctic and Antarctic. Georg has worked with Svalbard’s wildlife since 1986 and is currently employed as a Field Inspector at the Directorate for NatureManagement in Norway.

G E O R G E  S T E I N M E T Z

Flying hundreds, sometime thousands, of feet above ground strapped into a motorized paraglider that is little more than a parachute with a small motor, photographer George Steinmetz has spent more than twenty years photographing some of the most remote and spectacular environments around the world. In his book, African Air, Steinmetz captures stunning panoramas in more than fourteen countries in Africa, giving readers captivating and intimate views of areas thathave rarely, if ever before, been photographed.

He has been a regular contributor to National Geographic and GEO magazines for more than twenty years, and has covered subjects ranging from the remotest areas of Arabia’s Empty Quarter to making first contact with tree-dwelling people in the jungle of New Guinea.

He has won numerous awards during his career, including two first prizes in science and technology from World Press Photo, as well as awards and citations from Pictures of the Year, Overseas Press Club, and the Alfred Eisenstadt Awards. He recently received a grant from the US National Science Foundation to photograph the Dry Valleys and volcanoes of Antarctica.

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J E F F  H U N T E R

Scuba diving, travel, photography and digital imaging are four of Jeff Hunter’s current passions. He feels very fortunate to be able to combine the four in much of his work. Jeff’s passion for photography has been strong for many years. Much of his photography is travel-related, and traveling to go scuba diving rates right up there with any other type of travel. He relates to the world in a very visual way and enjoys expressing his feelings with photography and showing others what hesees.

Photography has increased his awareness of environmental concerns: “Much damage has already been done. It is my hope that my photography will help more people to appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of the world, and that will in turn help us all to become more aware of what we need to do to protect and preserve it. ”

JEFFHUNTER.COM

J O E L  S A R T O R E

Joel brings a sense of humor and a mid-western work ethic to all of his photographic assignments. After more than 15 years and 26 stories with the National Geographic Society, Joel’s work focuses on endangered species, natural history and land use issues. He sees human impact on the environment first-hand. In his words, “It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity. When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”

He is the author of books Photographing Your Family, Face to Face with Grizzlies, and Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky. He has completed assignments for many magazines and numerous book projects and his work has been the subject of several national TV broadcasts. He is also a regular contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show with Charles Osgood.

Joel is always happy to return to home base from his travels around the world. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife Kathy and their three children.

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M A T T H E W  S H E L L E Y

Born in Northern England in 1976. Matt’s interest in photography started at an early age when his parents first bought him a plastic Kodak camera for his 9th birthday. After studying photography and graphic design, Matt pursued a career in the latter. His photography combines his love of travel with the experimental, and his passion for making the mundane beautiful and the everyday seemnew is undiminished.

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N I C K  B R A N D T

As part of his ongoing photographic project to memorialize the vanishing natural grandeur of East Africa, Nick Brandt has published the first two books of a trilogy: On This Earth (2005), and A Shadow Falls (2009). He has had multiple solo shows of his work across Europe and North America - in New York, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Brussels, Paris, Santa Fe, SanFrancisco and Sydney.

NICKBRANDT.COM

Palani Mohan

Palani Mohan was Paul Souders born in Madras, India in 1967 and migrated to Australia with his family in 1979. His photographic career began at the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper in 1985, and he moved to Asia in 1999. His works have been published by many of the world’s leading magazines and newspapers including National Geographic, Stern, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and has also published three photographic books. Palani’s work has been recognized with awards from World Press Photo, Picture of the Year, National Press Photographers Association, American Photo and Communication Arts. He is represented by Getty Images’ Reportage Group in New York and is currently based inthe Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

PALANIMOHAN.COM

P A U L  S O U D E R S

For much of Paul Souders adult life, he has been lucky enough to get paid to do the things he loves most. His work as an itinerant travel and wildlife photographer has sent him around the world and acrossall seven continents.

Over the last two decades, he has come to appreciate the absurdities of life on the road, having once spent 27 memorable hours during a trip to Kenya digging a bogged safari truck out using only a sauce pan. In addition to his work in Africa, he has traveled extensively in Alaska, Australia, Antarctica and Asia. Paul hopes to work his way through the rest of the alphabet in a timely fashion.

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R A L P H  L E E  H O P K I N S

“I didn’t set out to be a photographer. Photography found me – it was an outgrowth of my love of landscapes and my background in geology. I think what so captivated me about photography was being in the moment with my camera, which I found intensified the experience of being in the landscapes that I loved. Still, today, 25 years later, my deep love of nature is what I hope comes through in my images. My two recent books, Hiking Colorado’s Geology and Hiking the Southwest’s Geology, have brought me full circle, a profound experience. For me, photography is not just an art - it is a way of being in and connecting withthe best of the natural world.”

Santa Fe-based photographer, Ralph Lee Hopkins, is Director of Photography Expeditions for Lindblad Expeditions. He also teaches photography workshops, and is co-lecturer on tour with the National Geographic Traveler magazine series, ‘Travel Photography in the Digital World.’ His work is represented worldwide by the National Geographic Image Collection and Lonely Planet Images and has been published in most major nature and photography publications.

RALPHLEEHOPKINS.COM

R E M I  B E N A L I

Remi began his career in 1989 after receiving his Law Degree. He worked with the photo agency Gamma for 12 years, including 3 years in New York City. He has worked independently since 2002 and lives in Provence. His journeys have led him to over 80 countries – from the North Pole to the Sahara Desert and the remote jungles of Sumatra to the high plains of Tibet. Specialized in travel photography, his work depicts the living remnants of a vanishing past with a focus on traditions, tribal culturesand man’s relationship with Nature.

An award-winning photographer (including Natural History Award at Picture Of the Year 1997 for which his photograph ‘Dolly The Sheep’ for Life magazine was selected as one of the 100 Pictures of the Century), Remi’s commercial clients include Apple and Disney. His editorial work appears in numerous international publications around the world. He has also photographed 2 expeditions in Africa for the National Geographic Society. Celebrating 20 years of documenting the diversity and wonders of our world, Remi Benali opened the Nature & Cultures Photo Gallery in Arles in Spring 2009.

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